Fracture nail and fracture nail driver



Jan. 23, 1940- w. D. FRIDDLE FRACTURE NAIL AND FRACTURE NAIL DRIVER Filed Aug. 18. 1936 311mm Mug. .4. $1M.

MSNo AM /I Patented .lan. 23, 1940 i I v UNITED STATES PATENTOFFI CE FRACTURE NAIL AND FRACTURE NAIL DRIVER William D. Frlddle, Greenville, S. 0.

Application August 18, 1936, Serial No. 96,657

Claims. (01. 128-92) In the past few years, the treatment of a fracsecured. The other end of the section 22 is proture of the neck of the femur has been satisfacvided with female screw-threads 24. torily accomplished by the use of what is known The section 26 is provided at one end thereof as a surgical nail. with male screw-threads, so that the section 26 5 It is generally known that these surgical nails may be added onto the section 22, if desired. 5 are drivenwith great care through the lateral Each of these sections I4, 22, and 26 is procortex of the femoral shaft about an inch bevided with a drilled hole 28, through which suitlow' the lower margin of the trochanter and in a able rods so may be pl so that he ections plane parallel to the surface of the supporting may be screwed tight, to be securely fastened surface together at the time that they are to be used. 10

The nail which is thus used is directly mesially At the end of the sections remote from the and proximally toward a point midway between surgical nail 2, I provide an enlarged head port spineof th pubis and the anterior-superior tion 32, the smaller end of which is provided spine. The accurate and careful driving of these with male screw-threads 34, so that the head surgical nails is done by the repeated use of 32 may be securely attached to the last driver X-ray pictures which are utilized so that the section (the section 26 as illustrated in the drawpath of the nail may be very carefully followed ing). This head 32 is also provided with a drilled as it is driven into the bone. e 28, so that the head portion may be se- The object of my invention is to provide an curely'fastened to one of the driver sections.

extended driver which may be attached to the When the driver ,is assembled as shown in Figs. 20 head end of a surgical nail, so that the direcl and 2, it is ready for use and may be readily tion of the nail may be more readily controlled utilized to properly position the nail 2, as it is as it is being driven into a fractured bone. driven into the fractured neck of a femur.

A further object of my invention is to pro- Often it is found desirable to place an impacvide a surgical nail driver about which is positor hammer 36 over the driver sections. This 25 tioned an impactor, which impactor may be used hammer is a relatively heavy tube provided with not Only as an impactor but also as an extractan end 38 which is cut at an angle to the longihammer tudinal axis of the hammer 36 so that the end In the accompanying drawing: 38 will approximately fit the normal obliquity Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a convenof the femoral shaft at the base of the trochanter. tional surgical nail positioned within the neck The end 40 of the impactor hammer 36 is cut of a femur (shown in dotted'lines) with my nail at approximately right angles to the longitudidriver attached; nal axis of the hammer. This impactor hammer Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross-section through 36 fits relatively loosely around the driver, so

5 the driver and the head of a conventional surthat it may be readily slid along the dn t gical nail; and such times as it is desirable to use the end 40 Fig. 3 is an end view of a conventional surof the hammer to hit against the head 32 for gical nail. purposes of extracting a surgical nail 2.

The surgical nail 2 is conventional in its form, It is often found that even when a greatdeal 40 having three flanges 4 extending out from the of care has been used in driving a surgical nail, 40 center of the nail. Each of these'ilanges 4 are it is necessary to either withdraw the nail co provided with sharpened edges 6, as is the end p at least P y, i Order to correct 8 of the nail. the course which it will follow as it is again The head In is drilled and provided with screwven into the fractured neck of a femur. th d l2, After the surgical nail-has been completely 45 The driver is made in three independent secdriven into the fractured bone, this p r tions which may or may not be secured together hammer 6 ay b s fo the purpose of b in by their screw-threaded portions, as shown in placed around the head ID of the nail and the Figs. 1 and 2. I provide a relatively short section Short extension" h t end 38 abu t M, which has at one end thereof, screw-threads against the femoral shaft, at which time the end 50 v I6 which are adapted to fit and be screwed into 40 of the impactor 36' may be gently hammered,

the screw-threads l2 in the head of the nail to closely approximate the fragments of the frac- -2. The-other end of the short section I4 is ured neck of the femur.

provided with female screw-threads l8, into which It will be understood that while I have shown the male threads 20 of the section 22 may bemy. driver as being'made in three sections, it 55 may well be made in either more or less than three sections. Also the sections may or may not be of the same length and the section l5 need not be provided us short section, although it has gentrally been found advisable to make the section 54 short. so that it may properly position the irnngctor hammer 35 around the head if! of the studied! nail, so that the impactor may be utilized to closely approximate the fragments of the fractured bone after the nail has been driven into its final position It W111 be understood while I have shown my fracture nail as having the head thereof drilled and tapped, yet it is entirely possible the frac tux-e nail may be made halving the threads secured to the head by in some other manner rather than by drilling and tapping. At present it is believed that it will be much more satisfac tory to have the threads of the fracture nail internal threads, but it will be understood that the same result may be obtained by providing threads on the head end of the fracture nail in some other form.

I claim:

1. The combination of a, fracture-nail and driver, including a. nail having a drilled and tapped head, a rod, and a. screw-threaded projection on said rod.

mamas 2. A fracture-nail driver including afracturenail having screw-thre: as at its head end. rod having screw-threads on one end thereof to engage he scren -threP.ds on said nail head, a herd screw-threaded to the other end of said rod. and an irnpactor tube partitlly encasing said rod and sliduhlolongitudinall: reroof.

3. A fracture-nul drive including a iracturc nail having a drilled and tapped head, a rod, 3 screw-threaded end on said rod, :1 head on the ther and of said rod, and a tube :lidable lonf1itudinally on said rod.

4. A fracture-nail driver including a fracture nail having a drilled and tapped head, a rod screw-threaded at one end thereof to said fracture-nail head, and an enlarged head screwthreadcd o the opposite end of said rod.

5. A fracture-nail driver including a fracturenail having screw-threads in its head end. a. rod having screw-threads on one end thereof to engage the screw-threads in said nail head, a head screw-threaded to the other end of said rod, and an impactor tubc slidablc longitudinally of said rod. said rod having a plurality of sections.

WILLIAM D. FRIDDLE. 

